Some off-road vehicles such as all terrain vehicles (ATVs), utility vehicles, or service vehicles are capable of switching between two-wheel-drive and four-wheel-drive. A system for enabling the switching between the two-wheel-drive and the four-wheel-drive is disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application Publication No. 2004-187378 and Japanese Patent No. 2955260. The system is positioned in a drive path position between a propeller shaft configured to transmit a driving power of an engine to each drive wheel and a gear assembly configured to change a speed and/or a direction of rotation of the propeller shaft and to transmit the rotation to the corresponding drive wheel. The system is configured to disconnect the drive path to stop driving of the corresponding drive wheel.
In some cases, the connection/disconnection of the drive path may be operated by a lever unit protruding to the outside from a casing covering the system. The lever unit may be actuated by an electric device or a hydraulic device.
When the lever unit is actuated by the electric device or the hydraulic device, high-precision sensors and other mechanisms for accurate control are needed, thus increasing cost.